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Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/BJZMqXyhjOc/ Krista Tippett’s On Being Podcast http://www.onbeing.org/ AfterShokz bone conduction headphones are great for walking and running more safely https://www.amazon.com/Aftershokz-AS450-Conduction-Headphones-Microphone/ Audiofy app uses computer voice to read articles to you http://audiofyapp.com/

Here are some major types of digital trackers.

The Omron digital pedometer plugs into your laptop or desktop computer USB port to download its data for transfer to the Omron web site where there are tools to help you analyze your trends.

The Moves app is an example of a pedometer app that you can load onto your smart phone from the onboard app store. The app uses the sensors that are already part of your smart phone to provide step tracking ability.

The Jawbone UP move is a basic activity tracker that can clip onto your belt, purse or other article of clothing. The device can also be inserted into a wristband to wear on your arm.

The Fitbit Charge HR is a health-focused state-of-art tracker that no only measures steps, but can also track workouts, running and heart health with its integrated all-day optical heart rate sensor.

The Polar FT7 is a popular exercise watch to measure calorie burn for people who work out on gym equipment. The Polar requires the user to strap a heart rate sensor around their chest.

An important thing to note here is that almost all digital activity tracker devices connect to (or through a mobile app) some kind of web-based account storage so that your activity data can be safely backed-up in case you lose your device.

How to Choose the Best Fitness Tracker (2015) http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Fitness-Tracker-Reviews/Buying-Advice Live Science Chart on how to choose an activity tracker http://www.livescience.com/49174-choosing-a-fitness-tracker.html

These are the tracking bands I have used the most in 2014-2015. They have almost all been updated with newer versions, but as will most consumer technologies, there’s nothing wrong with using last year’s (or the year before’s) model.

With Fitbit going public, Misfit being acquired by Fossil Watch Company and Under Armour moving into both apps and devices, prices are going down and choice of good products is up.

NOTE: The Nike Fuelbands, though fine products in their day, have been discontinued. The Fitbit Flex, Jawbone UP24 and Garmin Vivoifit have newer models for 2015-2016.

Check Amazon for current street prices and user reviews on activity trackers. Consult popular review sites such as: The New York Times Wirecutter http://thewirecutter.com/ Wareable http://www.wareable.com/ DC Rainmaker https://www.dcrainmaker.com/

Lumoid: Try activity trackers before you buy https://lumoid.com/

Check Amazon for current street prices and user reviews. Consult popular review sites such as: The New York Times Wirecutter http://thewirecutter.com/ Wareable http://www.wareable.com/ DC Rainmaker https://www.dcrainmaker.com/

Lumoid: Try activity trackers before you buy https://lumoid.com/

I’m using the Misfit Flash activity tracker here as an example to show exactly what walking with a digital activity tracker looks like. Out of the box, this particular unit has a button battery installed. Not shown is downloading and installing the app into your smartphone, setting up a user name/ password and linking your band by Bluetooth.

Left to right, you see the end of the strap is passed through a small loop and then a peg is pressed into one of several holes once the fit feels good.

Then start your walk. This can be indoors at the shopping mall, outdoors at the park, at the gym on a treadmill—the tracker stores your steps internally and doesn’t need a wireless connection or GPS while you are moving. Some trackers, including this one, allow you to set left or right wrist as dominant because sometimes hand movements can register steps. I haven’t found this to be a problem. Be sure to wear comfortable shoes!

After your walk, hopefully it was brisk and long, open the tracker’s app on your phone and press the sync button. A few trackers can automatically sync. You can sync to your phone anywhere as long as it is close to the tracker, like within 15 feet. If the phone isn’t on wifi or a cell network, it will store your data to sync later to the internet.

Then the app will show a graph of your steps and update your historic totals. The Misfit trackers do not have a web dashboard in addition to their app.

Fitbit, Nike and Jawbone have particularly strong social and competitive features. Here you can where I was invited into a small group to achieve a weekend or work week step challenge. The app send text messages showing the participants progress and allows you to chat between each other.

Here is a graph showing a year of my steps as monthly averages. You can see that in January 2015, I decided to make my 10K step goal EVERY day. The graph slopes up into the year as I increased my running. A problem with step-centric trackers is that they don’t often break out running from normal steps. Some trackers are de-emphasizing step in favor of active minutes. For example, Fitbit only awards active minutes for 10 minutes of moderate activity such as brisk walking or other more intense activities.

Before we get to the questions, a quick reminder that this webinar isn’t the only way you can learn more about technology. Visit AARPTEK.ORG – go to events to sign up for live workshops or visit the webinars page to view a list of upcoming webinars.

You can also go to our Learn tab and find short videos, articles, eLearning and tutorials about various topics.

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Some Tips
• Take your wrist tracker off daily to let your skin
breathe
• Wipe off your tracker with plain water
• Most trackers are not good for swimming!
• Stick a piece of watch crystal protection film on the
screen
• Order spare button batteries where applicable
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